ADO Chpt I3

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The Amazons

Chapter Interlude - Aurigan Dreams (BattleTech CYOA)

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The diversion

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"Alright ladies, it's showtime," declares Captain Belinda Arkos to the rest of her lance from the cockpit of her Shadow Hawk, "The Aurigans won't know what has hit them."

"Are you sure that Farron will uphold his end of the bargain, boss?" asks Lara Romero, her steadfast second-in-command, from her Centurion.

Centurion Medium 'Mech

"If he doesn't, it will be due to incompetence rather than betrayal," answers Belinda, "And if he does, we withdraw to the Themiscyra and retreat. Now let's get moving."

With the agile grace of a veteran pilot, Belinda sprints her Shadow Hawk forwards. Lara follows in her Centurion while Rhea trails behind them in her Mongoose and Iona takes up the rear in her Stinger.

A quartet of deadly warmachines piloted by a quartet of equally deadly MechWarriors.

"This is Captain Taupo of the House Arano Guard," calls a male voice over the radio as the Amazons approach the closest Aurigan forces, "Unknown Mechs, identify yourself."

"This is Boobs of Arko's Amazons," replies Belinda as the closest sensor contacts begin to get identified as 'Mechs or vehicles, using a deliberately sultry tone to play up to the Canopian stereotype "Sorry about this, just doing the job that we've been hired for. Nothing personal, boys."

And with that, she takes aim at an APC before opening fire with her medium autocannon. The pair of explosive shells slam into the side of the enemy vehicle, the first one smashing the armour halfway to pieces before the second pierces it entirely. The APC goes up in a fiery explosion as the autocannon shell ignites the fuel and the machine gun ammo.

"Gods damn it," curses Captain Taupo, "Command, we've got more raiders over here. An entire lance of 'Mechs!"

Belinda laughs before jumping into the fray, boosting her 'Mech over hills with a full five jump jets of her modified SHD-H2 instead of the usual three that the stock model sports. As she lands, Belinda unleashes an alpha strike into an unfortunate Scorpion Tank that had the bad luck of waiting for her on the other side of the hill. Between her top-grade autocannon, medium laser and SRM launchers, the enemy tank doesn't stand a chance with her cannon and laser blasting away the frontal armor. The SRMs finish off the Scorpion, leaving its innards as a mangled wreck in her wake.

She doesn't slow down in the slightest, breaking into a jog as her Shadow Hawk touches the ground. Darting towards the other nearby Scorpion, Belinda easily dodges a hasty shot of its autocannon before striking it with a swing of her left arm, the enhanced actuators of her 'Mech letting it rip straight through both of the armor and the internal structure of the unfortunate tank.

Keeping up the rapid pace, Belinda aims her attack at another APC in the process of disgorging its infantry squad. Ignoring the horribly inaccurate and panicked fire of its machine guns as they fire far beyond their effective range, the Canopian mercenary calmly fires both her autocannon and her laser into the front of the warmachine. The combined firepower of her weapons shreds the armor and guts the vehicle, taking it out of commission and killing half of the infantry before they can finish disembarking.

A pair of medium lasers lash out at her, one missing entirely and the other burning the ground. Belinda jumps her 'Mech to the side as she spots the attack, one of those fancy high-tonnage APCs that the Aurigans domestically produce.

Noting that Lara is about to be hit in the side, Belinda fires only her medium laser to keep the attention focused on her. Her green beam of death only inflicts a glancing hit at the long distance, but it is enough to keep the Sleipnir focused on her. As Belinda jumps to the same side, Lara fires her heavy autocannon and LRMs into the flank of the Aurigan vehicle. She hits hard enough to blast away most of the armor on that side and while it isn't enough to kill it, it is enough for Belinda to finish the job with a single volley of her SRMs.

"Hot here," calls Rhea over the radio, "I've got an Aurigan 'Mech lance on their way over here. A couple of Stingers along with another Light 'Mech and-crap, PPC!"

Stingers Light 'Mechs attacking

"Hot, pull back and help Bee finish off the remaining armour," orders Belinda as she jumps in the direction of Rhea and the Aurigan reinforcements, "Steadfast, you and I will engage the 'Mechs."

"Got it, Boobs," replies Lara as she begins to follow Belinda in her slower Centurion.

Jumping over Rhea's sprinting Mongoose, Belinda quickly spots the hostile Bug 'Mechs, her warbook identifying them as STG-3Rs like Iona's Stinger.. Both of them begin to aim at Belinda, but the Canopian is quicker. As her Shadow Hawk comes back down to the ground, she opens fire with an alpha strike. Her autocannon blows away the left torso of the Aurigan 'Mech while her medium laser burns away at the right arm as her SRMs pepper the front of Stinger with one of them even striking the cockpit.

Shadow Hawk Medium 'Mech

A moment later, pilot has ejected from the Stinger as Belinda turns her attention to the other 'Bug Mech, closing the distance between it and her Shadow Hawk. The Aurigan MechWarrior tries to hit her with an alpha of their own, but Belinda ignores the handful of bullets that actually strike her armour. She swings down low with her fists, smashing into the leg of the unfortunate Stinger and knocking it off its feet as Belinda leaves its limb a mangled mess.

Backing up, she twists her 'Mech around to aim at the other leg of the Stinger before firing her autocannon. The two-shot burst of her medium autocannon obliterates not only the armor of the Stinger leg, but also the myomer and the internal structure, leaving the 'Mech's leg as useless as its other and taking the Stinger out of the fight.

Having dealt with the second Stinger, Belinda begins to ignite her jump jets once more when a bolt of crackling blue energy slams into her 'Mech. Her screens flicker even as the white of her frontal torso darkens to a noticeable grey as half of the armor located that is stripped away in a single attack.

"Need a hand, Boobs?" asks Lara.

"Just a lucky hit," Belinda snaps back as she spots the perpetrator, a GRF-1N Griffin just within line of sight, "I'll deal with them. Take care of that Commando for me, Steadfast."

Commando Light 'Mech

"Got it, boss," replies Lara as Belinda ignites her jump jets again, just as the Griffin fires a volley of LRMs at her while the Commando unleashes a full alpha strike against her.

Barely any missiles strike her as she soars through the air while Belinda runs through the best way to engage that Griffin. Her extra jump jets means that she can keep up with it, but the Griffin should have the mobility to keep enough distance to keep Belinda within range of its weapons. Her medium autocannon can engage shots with its PPC and LRM launcher, but it will be a struggle to get her SRMs and laser within range.

Then there is heat management. That's one thing in her favour since Belinda can keep jumping her 'Mech and firing her autocannon while the Griffin will find itself overheating if the MechWarrior tries to keep jumping and firing its PPC at the same time.

Another bolt of rippling blue-white energy strikes out at her, missing her as she lands and Belinda takes a moment to line up her shoot before pulling the trigger for her autocannon. The Aurigan 'Mech staggers as the two shells slam into its torso, just below the LRM launchers.

"Commando is down!" reports Lara as the Griffin tosses another alpha strike out at Belinda.

Griffin Medium Mech in combat, melee

"Hot here, we've got more light tanks and APCs coming our way," reports Rhea as Belinda takes a sole LRM hit, "At least a company of hostile armor."

"Go give them a hand, Steadfast," orders Belinda as the enemy Griffin jumps away again, this time over a hill and out of sight before she can finish tracking it with her autocannon, "I've got this Griffin under control and your Centurion would be too slow to keep up."

"On it, boss," declares Lara as Belinda jumps after the retreating Griffin, following it over the hill as she jumps on top of the piece of terrain in question.

Here, the Aurigan MechWarrior is sprinting along the ground and has made the mistake of revealing its rear. Belinda punishes the mistake with an autocannon shot straight to rear torso armor, leaving the 'Mech stumbling as the internal structure of the center torso is exposed.

Belinda continues to jump after the fleeing 'Mech as it turns to face her, following it as she attempts to line up another shot before it can fire upon her once more. Just as she is about to bring her autocannon to bear, her sensors light up. Half a dozen, at least a full dozen contact enter her sensor range and accompanying them is a barrage of firepower.

At least fifty LRMs, four PPC shots and a few autocannon shells come flying at her and Belinda twists her 'Mech at the last moment to try and avoid the worst of it. While the long distance and the motion of her 'Mech makes her a difficult target, the sheer amount of firepower being sent her way means that a few connect with her Shadow Hawk.

She ignites her jump jets again as soon as she lands, ignoring the whines and groaning from them from being activated so soon after their last usage. Her techs will give her hell for it, but Belinda needs to get back behind that hill and out of line of sight for the Aurigan reinforcements.

Her armor is varying shades of grey across the front of her Shadow Hawk and there were a couple of Heavy 'Mechs within that batch of sensor contacts, possibly more. The Canopian mercenary knows when she is outmatched and that was it. Maybe if she had all of Amazon Lance with her and they were fresh for a fight…no, she cannot take them on her own, especially not when she has already suffered damage.

She glances at the combat readouts from her lancemates. Everyone has taken some hits, but no armor breaches yet and Belinda intends to keep things that way.

"Amazon Lance, pull back to the Themiscyra," orders Belinda into her lance's radio channel, "More Aurigan reinforcements have arrived and they've brought Heavy Mechs. We've had a good showing, but it is time to cut our losses and get out."

"Understood, boss," replies Lara, "Me and the other ladies will begin withdrawing to the evac zone now."

"Hey, Boobs," says Iona as Belinda lands and breaks into a sprint, "Do we have time to finish off the last tanks over here? There's only two or three left."

"Back to the DropShip, Bee," answers Belinda firmly, "Don't get distracted with additional kills. A single hit from one of those PPCs would wreck your Stinger with the damage you've already taken."

"You heard the boss, Bee," adds Lara, "Don't get cocky, lassie. Back to Themiscyra and do it without delay."

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Author's Chapter Notes

Word from the Author

An interlude to start off the action of this raid with the third mercenary unit involved launching a surprise attack on the Aurigan defenders. Not too much to say except I took inspiration from the idea of an elite player lance wrecking some AI opponents to show an elite lance wrecking a larger number of less inexperienced opponents.

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